Before players focus on wooing Lucanis, they’ll want to focus on avoiding an early-game mistake that will make him unavailable to romance for the rest of the game. Oddly, this choice occurs after a Davrin-focused quest called A Warden’s Best Friend, so it’s easy to be caught off guard and make the wrong choice.
Prior to embarking on A Warden’s Best Friend, it’s a very, very good idea to completely all of the currently available sidequests–especially quests located in Minrathous and Treviso. There aren’t too many of them this early in the game, and they won’t take you too long to finish. Just visit each city, complete any active quests, and scan the map of each city for golden exclamation marks, as these signify the location of a side quest you haven’t yet acquired. If you’re dead-set on romancing Lucanis, you’ll also want to purchase everything you can from the first vendor you meet in Minrathous/Dock Town, as you won’t have another opportunity to purchase items there in the future. The three main quests you will absolutely want to finish prior to starting A Warden’s Best Friend are:
- A Slow Poison
- A Study of Dock Town
- Coffee with the Crows
Be sure to stop by the Lighthouse after each of these quests to see if Lucanis or Neve need to speak with you, as some of the above quests (especially A Slow Poison) lead to follow-up conversations (and sometimes, an additional mini-quest) with Lucanis or Neve.
Once you’re done tying up loose ends, head out to complete A Warden’s Best friend. We recommend bringing Lucanis and Davrin along for this quest, as their in-game abilities complement each other well in combat, and most quests in the game reward you with an approval boost from both of the companions who came along for the ride.
At the end of A Warden’s Best Friend, you’ll be faced with a difficult choice. Both Neve’s hometown of Minrathous and the city Lucanis calls home (Treviso) are under attack, and players are faced with a very Mass Effect-style choice: Help Lucanis save Treviso, or help Neve save Minrathous. Players who want to romance Lucanis must choose to save Treviso. Choosing to save Minrathous instead will result in the following dire consequences:
- Players instantly lose 100 faction approval with the Antivan Crows.
- Players instantly gain 250 faction approval with the Shadow Dragons.
- Players instantly lose access to the Antivan Crow vendor and can no longer purchase items from them.
- Players will have to rediscover any Fast-Travel Beacons they’ve unlocked in Treviso.
- Lucanis (temporarily) leaves the party, unwilling to leave his city unprotected.
- Lucanis becomes “Hardened,” meaning he can no longer use certain support abilities (though his other combat abilities do get buffed).
- Lucanis’ romance is permanently locked–even if players manage to earn back his trust, they are never given options to flirt with him.
Ultimately, choosing to save Treviso is the best choice even for players who aren’t 100% sure they want to romance Lucanis. Saving Treviso will result in the following consequences:
- Players instantly lose 100 faction approval with the Shadow Dragons.
- Players instantly gain 250 faction approval with the Antivan Crows.
- Players instantly lose access to the Shadow Dragon vendor and can no longer purchase items from them.
- Players will have to rediscover any Fast-Travel Beacons they’ve unlocked in Minrathous.
- Neve (temporarily) leaves the party, unwilling to leave her city to face the threat alone.
- Neve becomes “Hardened,” and can no longer use support abilities, though her offensive combat abilities get permanently buffed.
- Neve’s romance is NOT locked. While re-earning Neve’s trust is no small task, it can still be done, and she can still be romanced.
For the reasons listed above, saving Treviso is the best option for players who are sure they want to romance Lucanis and players who haven’t fully decided who they want to romance yet, as this choice keeps all romance options open to the player.